J.D. Williams

J. D. Williams
J. D. Williams in 2007
Born	Darnell Williams (1978-05-22) May 22, 1978 (age 38) Newark, New Jersey
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–present
Known for	"Bodie Broadus" in The Wire and Kenny Wangler in Oz

Darnell "J.D." Williams (born May 22, 1978) is an American actor from New Jersey. Best known for his starring roles in the HBO television programs Oz as Kenny Wangler, The Wire as Bodie Broadus and Pootie Tang as Froggy.

Williams was born in Newark, New Jersey. He attended Newark Arts High School, a performing arts public school in Newark, New Jersey. He portrayed a biracial 15-year-old dealing with racism and his father's infidelity in the play A.M. Sunday in late 2003 at Baltimore's Centerstage theater. He had a number of cameos and leading roles in R&B and hip-hop music videos between 2002 and 2005.

Williams appeared in Homicide: Life on the Street, a show based on a book by The Wire creator David Simon, where he guest-starred as Casper in the episode "The Why Chromosome". He had a small guest starring role in The Sopranos episode "46 Long" as Special K, an incompetent stickup man and one of Brendan Filone's goons. He went on to play series regular, inmate Kenny Wangler, in the first four seasons of Oz. He then appeared in HBOs The Wire as Bodie Broadus, a Barksdale Organization drug dealer who slowly rises through the ranks throughout the seasons. In preparation for the role, he walked around Baltimore's inner city during the middle of the night a few days before the first taping; talking about this to AllHipHop, Williams stated "it was like 12 or 1:00 in the morning. I just threw on a black hoodie and walked around. I went to one of their hoods and watched that night. I learned not to do that no more, I was lucky I made it back that night." He is older than his character by 8 years.